Two other genre-benders collaborated Friday night at Symphony Center, even if, in retrospect, they seemed like specialists compared to the voraciously eclectic McFerrin.

At first glance, mandolinist Chris Thile and pianist Brad Mehldau would not appear to have a great deal in common. But Thile’s folk-pop-bluegrass impulses and mandolin pyrotechnics reflect an open-eared approach to music-making, while Mehldau’s jazz vocabulary always has pushed out into rock, classical and other unexpected repertory.